In The Tempest, one of the last plays William Shakespeare fully authored, the character of Prospero is a conundrum. For 12 years he's been marooned on an island with his young daughter, Miranda. Struggling to survive, he blackmails the spirit Ariel into being his servant and compels the mortal Caliban to be his slave. For reasons equally simple and complex, Prospero is hero and antihero, protagonist and antagonist. Perhaps it's those contradictions that make him the perfect role for Mandy Patinkin to play.For seven months Patinkin has enjoyed a luxury afforded very few actors: He's done little but prepare to play perplexing Prospero, in this case for Classic Stage Company's Off-Broadway production of The Tempest. For the first three months, he logged three to four hours a day, including Saturdays and Sundays, meeting with Shakespeare scholar Rachel Chavkin and analyzing each line of the play, "translating it into English,...
- 9/18/2008
- by Leonard Jacobs
- backstage.com
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